Saturday, November 30, 2013

Well, this wasn't the original plan, but I had so much fun (and a little unresolved business with regards to tightening up the rules), that I decided to have another go with the Legionnaires in Perplakistan.

Here's the table. I rearranged some terrain, got rid of the hideous wadi I used last time, but the rest of the terrain rules hold the same. The village in the center, Kabalouey, is currently being terrorized by the Army of DUMDUM insurgents. Colonel Louis-Louis has made the decision that Major Lapieux's Legion task force will move on the ville, brush the insurgents back, and evacuate the villagers to a safe haven. The on-table insurgents are starting on blinds, with continuous reinforcements throughout the game, arriving at one of three 'hotspots' (black chips): one on right (the east hotspot, next to the east canal), one at the top (the north hotspot, behind the north hill), and one on the left (the west hotspot, in the grove at left above the west canal).

Each white chip is an insurgent blind, with three real ones and three dummies. There are four buildings,clockwise from bottom right: 1, 2, 4, and 3, each holding a civilian family. The French must enter the building, secure the civilians, then lead them to evacuation.

East side, showing the eastern end of the ville, the east hotspot, and (left to right) southeast hill and east hill.

The west side, showing the west hotspot (north of the west canal), and the west end of the building. Vehicles cannot traverse the canals, only men on foot, and at a penalty.

The north, insurgent end of the table, showing the north end of town and the north hotspot.

The French Foreign Legion Task Force: top left is the "Western Force," consisting of a leader, MG team, and rifle teams 5 and 6. The Western Force is charged with moving into the west canal grove and taking up positions to isolate the west hotspot from the village (yes, intel was good enough that the task force can anticipate where enemy reinforcements will arrive from). Top center is S3 (Land Rover with Mk19), V3 (Panhard), and the Milan team. They will move to SE hill and take up positions deliver fire into the village as necessary and interdict north hotspot forces when possible. To their right is V1 and V2 (both Panhards), charged with moving to east hill and taking up positions to isolate the east hotspot from the village. Below them is H1, carrying a leader and teams 1 and 2. H1 will advance to building 1 (lower right) and discharge (via fastrope) it's passengers, who will secure the civilians. H2 is carrying a leader and teams 3 and 4, and carry its passengers to building 2 (lower left), and they will secure the civilians. Both teams 2 and 4 carry explosives to blow a hole in the wall at the southern edge of the village in order speed up and provide cover to the evacuation. The last element (bottom left), consists of S1 and S2 (both soft back Land rovers), one carrying the SAM team (who was left home last mission). S1 and S2 will move to the breach in the southern wall, while the SAM team debarks to escort civilians back to the evac point (the goal is to not have the rifle teams doing this, as they will be the firepower in the village). Once all civilians are evacuated via vehicle to the Landing Zone at the SE corner of the table the helos will be used to evac the civilians and parts of the task force. The remainder of the task force will rendezvous at the LZ (also the Marshaling and Control Point, or MACO), where the remaining infantry will load into vehicles and drive back to base (off the southern edge of the map). As before, any eliminated French team's must be MEDEVACes, either by helo or vehicle.

The game starts with the Western Force moving up from the table edge. They manage to get over the canal.

V1 and V2 haul towards east hill, spotting bad guys near the east canal (top left). I wanted to get them up on the hill and get a shot at the insurgents, but the dice failed me. This would be common today.

S3 and V3 managed to get tot the top of the hill before failing command rolls. Another insurgent team was spotted (top left). The insurgents in the ville took a shot at S3 but missed.

H2 swooped in on bldg 2, and the leader with teams 3 (on bldg) and 4 (bottom left) fast-roped down. Tm3 and 4 both lit into the nearby insurgents, getting 3 hits, before Tm4 used its explosives to blow a hole in the southern wall. H2 departs.

H1 then moves to bldg 1; I'm very nervous here as there are bad guys to the right (just off camera) who still haven't used their opportunity fire and weren't pinned by V's 1-3 or S3... The leader and Tms 1 and 2 are able to fast-rope down, but H1 blows its roll and is just sitting there like a big balloon. Then Tm2 goes nuts: they fire at the insurgents on the east canal road, 1 hit 1 save. I thought 'crap!' but they passed again, putting 2 hits on the bad guys and pinning them. Then I rolled boxcars (two actions!), so Tm2 finished off the insurgents on the right then moved forward (that's them at top center, with Tm1 and Ldr on bldg 1). Then Tm1 eliminated the insurgents in the ville, but another insurgent team popped up (top left) and put an RPG right into H1. Now I'm thinking, "this is Super 61, we're going down," but the round merely managed to kill a door gunner and destroy his weapon (and 'pin' the aircraft). The bad guys got another shot in but missed. Tm1 returned fire, hitting nothing, and the bad guys fired back with two rounds of fire, getting 3 hits (rifle teams take 5 hits) and pinning Tm1.

But then Tm3 (in bldg 2, bottom right) stepped up and took out the insurgent team (4 hits!). I was expecting it to be much harder to get a foothold in the village. I had envisioned moving up the west (bottom of photo) side, with guys in bldg 1 (top right) and on SE hill (off camera, top right) laying fire onto bldgs 3 (top left) and 4 (bottom left). But we're advancing so fast I think S3 and V3 on SE hill are no longer in a good spot. Enemy reinforcements arrive, with 2 rifle teams in the east, 3 rifle teams and the Recoiless Rifle Technical in the north, and two rifle teams and the HMG Technical in the west.

The Western Force starts it off again, getting into position at the west canal. They're looking at a wealth of targets on the west hotspot (2 rifle teams and the HMG Technical), so they have it: the MG team opens up on the Technical, immobilizing and pinning it, before their second round of firing blew it up. Both Tm 5 and 6 fired and missed, then failed their roll. The two insurgent teams returned fire, getting a hit on Tm6.

On the far right, V1 and V2 ascend east hill, then pop the two insurgent teams on the east hotspot, getting a hit on each. Then, both insurgent teams loosed RPGs at V1 and V2, hitting both, and both received damaged engines. It was funny how symmetrical that fight was...

In ville, H1 unpins and gets the heck out of there. Tm1 (on bldg 1) managed to unpin, but then failed. Tm2 moved into bldg 4, secured the civilians, then escorted them out... into the street!!! I don't know what I was thinking; this certainly got away from the plan. At top right you can see two insurgent teams (that just shot it out with V1 and V2); neither are pinned, and when they're time comes up they could very well swing left (west) and put a hurtin' on Tm2 in the street. Also, off-camera to the north, are three more insurgent teams and the RR Technical, who also would love to catch Tm2 in the street. My plan was to keep my rifle teams in the buildings to maximize their cover and give them good fields of fire, but everything was going so well I thought, 'why wait for the bad guys to come for us, just back out of here.' Tm1 and Tm3 also secured their civilians, in bldg 1 and bldg 2, respectively.

S1 and S2 both came up the road, then failed (bottom left). S3 drops the Milan team on SE hill then moves up to Tm2 (top right), looked to fire up the bad guys at the east hotspot, but failed. V3 stayed on SE hill and put two hits on one of the teams at the east hotspot.

Tm4 moved up into bldg 4 (bottom right) and secured the civvies (that's the west hotspot at top right), was going to fall back (left) behind the building to get out of LOS of the enemy, but failed. Tm3 (bottom left, on bldg 2), fired at the insurgents on the west hotspot, getting two rounds of fire and two hits on each.

Back at the east canal, bot insurgent teams took shots at Vs 1 and 2, with two rounds of fire, but all they managed was to bounce an RPG off V1. The return fire put a hit on each insurgent team, and pinned one of them (the yellow bead). Meanwhile, S3 (Mk19 Land rover, top left) managed to get Tm2's civvies loaded, and Tm2 moved left behind cover (just to right of Tm1 in bldg 1).

V3, S1, and S2 all moved left, and the SAM tm popped out to start escorting civvies (that's bldg 2 in the foreground, bldg 4 in the background).

At the west canal, the bad guys got in three rounds of fire, getting two hits on Tm5, and pinning them. Tm5 managed to unpin while the MG and Tm6 returned fire, getting two hits on one and one on the other insurgent team.

In the north, all three insurgent teams and the RR Technical moved up, but only one of them managed to pass a second roll; he fired at Tm4 and missed.

Tm4 fired (hit nothing) and fell back out of bldg 4 (top left). Tm1 did this also bottom right). Tm3 (bldg 2, bottom left) opens up on one of the north insurgent teams and gets three hits, but they roll three saves!!! @#$%! Enemy reinforcements come on, but only get 1 team on the north hotspot.

V1 and V2 get in three rounds of fire on the two insurgent teams at the east hotspot, and eliminate both. S3 (pictured above, at left), carrying civvies, falls back towards the LZ.

V3 (center), fires at the RR Technical, and misses, but passes its roll and blows it to hell. V3 passes again and puts a hit on one of the north insurgent teams, who fires back, but the RPG misses. Tm3 (bldg 2, bottom left) has a go, and gets two hits and pins a north insurgent team. Tm1 falls back and gets its civvies into S1, and the SAM tm brings the civvies down from bldg2 and gets them loaded into S2. S1 and 2 both head towards the LZ. Two of the north insurgent teams move up, take a shot at Tm1 (center, wedged between bldg 2 and wall). Another tactical error on my part; I needed to protect Tm1 as it already had 3 hits, and I'd been masking it with terrain or friendly teams, but I didn't this time, and now the bad guys caught them in the open. But somehow the insurgents missed! Tm2 (at fountain) moved left (to that position), fired right, got three hits on an insurgent team, got another roll, eliminated the insurgent team. Tm4 fell back towards the LZ (bottom right).

The insurgent situation in the north.

In the west, Tm5 eliminated one insurgent team, then the MG and Tm6 eliminated the other.

The first insurgent team couldn't unpin, while the second exchanged fire with Tm3 (bldg 2, bottom left), getting no hits but receiving one. The other insurgent team fired at Tm2 (at fountain), hitting nothing, while Tm2 put 3 hits on them and pinned them. V3 moved left, and the SAM tm loaded the last civvies in there, while Tm4 moved back to the canal. Enemy reinforcements: 2 teams in the north, one in the west.

On the far right, V1 and V2 (both damaged) began slowly falling back, and the Milan team bolted down SE hill and hopped in V1.

S1, 2, and 3, and V3 all make it to the LZ, but none pass enough rolls to unload their civvies.

Tm4 moved east into the field and went on overwatch (white bead), while the SAM tm and Tm1 fell back towards the LZ.

The center insurgent team failed to unpin, while the top left one unpinned, and the other three sprinted east to try to get a shot at the fleeing French.

Tm2 comes down out of bldg 2, fires and falls back, followed by Tm3 firing (one hit) and falling back. I had to bend the rules a little bit to pull off this maneuver (you're supposed to finish with one element before activating another), but I really wanted to do the falling back by bounds, so I did it. I didn't cheat, that is, they had to pass their rolls, but not how it's supposed to happen, strictly speaking. Another benefit of playing solo: no one to object to your interpretation of the rules!

The Western Force opened up on the solitary insurgent team that popped up there, putting them out of their misery, then falling back towards the LZ, where H1 was waiting.

Insurgent teams try to unpin, one does, one doesn't. Two teams move into bldg 3 (top right), but fail to shoot. An insurgent team moves up into center, fires at Tm3, misses, and is eliminated by Tm3 with return fire. The last insurgent team double times (boxcars) up the east side, but Tm4 was on overwatch and puts four hits on them! Enemy reinforcements: 2 teams in the east.

All civvies embark on H1, which manages to get up and away, precious cargo secured! Now to get the task force out. To aid with this, H2 hits the LZ. The Western Force manages to cross the canal, but fails, so doesn't get to the helo, SAM tm and Tm1 keep moving towards the LZ. V1 and V2 slowly nurse their damaged vehicles towards the rendezvous point (LZ) as well.

The bad guys in the street manage to unpin, while one of the insurgent teams in bldg 3 takes a shot at V1, but miss. Tm4 then eliminates the bad guys in the street. Tm2 and 3 continue their fighting withdrawal, taking turns to fire at the insurgents in bldg 3 and fall back, with each team getting a hit, though Tm3 takes one in the return fire, while the pinned insurgent team in bldg 3 manages to unpin. Off camera to the right, the two insurgent teams on the east hotspot move up to the canal, then fail their roll to get across, which pretty much ensures they'll be too late to the party. One of the insurgent teams in bldg 3 targets V1 with an RPG (again), but this time scores a hit, knocking out the main guns targeting system/optics (-1 'to hit' for rest of game), though V1 and 2 are more interested in getting to the rendezvous and head towards the LZ.

Insurgents in bldg 3 get a hit on Tm3, which continues to leapfrog with Tm2, firing and falling back, with each team scoring a hit, and Tm2 pinning one of the insurgent teams (top is Tm3, middle is Tm2, bottom left is Tm4). The last insurgent team (top center, ground level) sprints forward, then tries to get off a terrible shot at Tm3, but fails its roll. Enemy reinforcements come on, 1 team each at the west, north, and east hotspots, though they won't be able to get in the game.

V1 and V2 join S1, S2, and V3 at the rendezvous point (that's V1 with two red beads, engine damage and optics damage, V2 with one, engine damage). Western Force, SAM tm, and Tm1 all load into H2, which takes off and heads for home. Tm3, pretty beat up (3 hits), manages to sprint all the way to V3 and loads up. Tm2 and Tm4 make it to the rendezvous, but fail the roll to load up.

The bad guys aren't in a position to do anything, so the remaining teams load up, and Major Lapieux orders the column south towards base, game over, mission accomplished.

Another fun one, and went faster than yesterday's game with the alterations I made to the fire combat mechanism, which I thought worked well for casualties but seemed to make it a bit hard to pin a team. In the past two games I've had five RPGs strike the Panhards, and one RPG strike a helo, and nothing has been destroyed, and the Technicals have been very easily brushed aside, so I can't fault anyone reading who thinks the AT rules are out of whack, but I'm telling you they're not. First, the Technicals are nothing but normal pickup trucks with weapons mounted, so I think them going down pretty easily is just fine. The only problem I have with the Technicals' performance in the two games is that they haven't really been able to get into action. I think in the future I need to have them moving to cover, pop out, shoot, then get back into cover. Regarding the Panhards and helo getting hit, it's just been very bad die rolls for the bad guys, as opposed to a problem with the mechanism. The hit effect rolls have consistently been 1s, 2s, and 3s, which, as you see, doesn't do a lot (I've had three engine damage, one main gun KO, and one optics/targeting system KO on the Panhards, and one door gunner killed in the helo). So, I'm sticking with the AT rules, need to make it a bit easier to pin a unit I think. The activation system worked pretty well I think, and gives a smooth, clean game. Actually, I need to figure out a way to get the leaders more involved in the game (right now they're just sort of decorative, mostly).

So, that's two games in two days, and I'm looking to get another in tomorrow morning. My plan was to do a FFL in the desert (check, x2 actually), but also do a modern Special Operations raid (which I still want to do), and an All Americans in Sicily (which I also want to do), but this FFL stuff has been so fun I want to keep doing it, and I believe that's what I'm going to do tomorrow. I already have a scenario in mind: General Poupous wasn't happy with Colonel Louis-Louis' decision to evacuate the villagers, believes it sends the wrong message about French strength and resolve in the region, and so he orders Colonel Louis-Louis to reinstate the villagers in the former homes. Once again, Major Lapieux's Legion Task Force gets the call.

But there's a twist: itt's no secret that neighboring Tumoria, a rogue-state/communist/socialist/Marxist/ Lenninist/autocratic dictatorship is backing the AoDD, and so they have provided some older, Warsaw Pact-era armor, which will surely catch the Legionnaires by surprise! Stay tuned, and thanks for reading. As a side note, to check my sanity, is anyone finding these FFL batreps of interest?

Friday, November 29, 2013

As promised, here's the first batrep, and, as promised, I went with the vote winner. There was all of one vote, so it made it pretty easy for me to tabulate. The good Mr. Thomas Nissvik requested anything FFL, and so here we are, stuck in Perplakistan, a former French colony in Northern-Middle-not too far East nor Western North Africa/Southwestern Asia.

First, let's start with an admin note; here's a better picture of my new desert game mat. This pic looks a lot more like it does in real life, though it's still a little off.

An overview of the table. It's about a 4' x 4,' with French coming from the bottom (let's call it south), with the insurgents' baseline being the top (north). Please forgive me as my desert game wan't real well thought out, that is to say, I had to do a lot of improvising regarding terrain. At top is the village of Kaplaxia, with a fair number of civilians running around, of which the French must take great care to minimize collateral damage to property and absolutely make sure to not injure any of the villagers. I'm using my regular roads, and my regular river sections are canals. There are a couple of crop fields, and I'm using cut-up pieces of rug for a couple hills. Got my regular walls around the village, and the fountain; the buildings are hilarious... I took a Jenga set and glued it together with wood glue, put some index card walls around the roofs, spray painted them khaki, then took a Sharpie and colored in doors and windows. I made some berms by molding modelling clay around some popsicle sticks then spraying them khaki as well. Then I've got a few bits of lichen floating around as some scrub brush.

Here's the insurgents' end of the table, centering on the village. The scenario is that, as so often happens, a former French colony finds itself in turmoil regarding some Islamist upstarts wishing to change the local government by force of arms. Not long afterward, the Legion is sent in, initially to protect French property and persons, and then to bolster the local government. In this particular case, the Legion has several sources reporting an arms cache in the/near the village of Kaplaxia. The FFL objective is to eliminate the cache (blow in place), inflict maximum casualties on the enemy, hold their casualties to a minimum, and do not become drawn into a protracted fight. As collateral damage is a concern, there will be no supporting (off-table) arms available. The white chips are insurgent blinds (there are eight, some of which are dummies), the red chips are potential cache locations (there are three), and the black chips are insurgent 'hotspots' (there are three). The insurgents will constantly receive reinforcements throughout the fight, with casualties being recirculated back onto the table, location (hotspot) determined by die roll. You can see my goofy, homemade buildings, some N-scale cars (model railroad), and the local citizens (they have the big, white bases, which I intend on changing at some point but will have to do for now).

The right side of the insurgent baseline.

A view from west to east (insurgent baseline on left, FFL to right). Oh yeah; the big greenish-gray crap running across the table is supposed to represent a wadi, which can be crossed by vehicles and troops at a penalty, while the canals can be crossed by troops (at penalty) but not vehicles.

The left side of the insurgent baseline, but looking from east to west (insurgent baseline at right).

The FFL forces. They have a Blackhawk (yes, a Blackhawk) designated H1 (at left), carrying two rifle teams (Tm1 and Tm2) and a leader. To their right there are three Land Rovers; two soft back (S1 and S2), and one mounting a Mk-19 Grenade Launcher (S3). The first two carry weapons teams (a Milan and a MG), and the third carries a leader. To their right are three Panhards (V1, V2, and V3), carrying a rifle team each (Tm3, Tm4, and Tm5, and V2 also carrying a leader. The other Blackhawk, H2, carries the last rifle team (Tm6). Tm6 is carrying the explosives to blow the cache, so once it's located H2 will roar in and drop Tm6 as close to the cache as possible. The two helos will be available for extract, but ground extract is preferred as the FFL commander expects hordes of insurgents to close on the area, and the last thing he wants to deal with is a downed helo. The French, being Western, have the caveat that if a team is eliminated they must MEDEVAC the team (the insurgents don't have to bother with this, of course). The helos will be available for MEDEVAC, as well as any of the vehicles.

The FFL starts off-board, coming on in the first turn. The plan is for the three Land Rovers to dart up to the first hill (nearest the FFL baseline), deposit the leader, MG, and Milan, and have the Mk-19 take up a firing position while the two soft-backs (S1 and S2) scurry back down behind cover to await further orders. This position will provide a little cover for a base of fire and to spot a bunch of the blinds straight away. Following this, simultaneously H1 will dart to the top left corner (northeast) and deposit a leader and Tms 1 and 2, while the three Panhards (Vs 1, 2, and 3) charge straight up the road towards the village. The goal of each axis is to establish fire superiority as quickly as possible in order to set about searching for the cache as quickly as possible. There are several different plans for extract, depending upon the situation and the location of the cache.

The enemy, AKA, the Army of DUMDUM (okay, I couldn't be bothered to come up with a real name on the fly, so just pretend that's a cool acronym that shows their piousness and righteousness). There are four leaders, eight rifle teams (each with RPG capable of defeating any FFL vehicle/helo), and two Technicals, one with a 106mm recoiless rifle, one with a 12.7mm HMG. They will come on the table initially via the blinds, then at the end of each turn, any rifle team casualties will be diced for to come back on the table as reinforcements at one of their 'hotspots.' Sorry for the crappy pic...

The fight starts with S1 rushing to the top of the hill, spotting (of all things), both Technicals (RR at top right, HMG at top center). I was using a variation of Blitzkrieg Commander style activation, so you'll see a lot of moving up then doing nothing; that's because my variation is to give one 'free' activation then roll for additional activations. The plan was for S1 to drop some folks off, but he failed the roll...

S2 came up and dropped off the Milan, while S3 (with the Mk-19) moved up into position. S3 was going to fire at one of the Technicals, but failed its roll. So did the Milan...

The FFL commander, Major Lappieux, sent in H1, seen here swooping in low over the desert, nap of the earth-style.

H1 passed another roll and thus was able to sit down and debark the leader and Tm1 (bottom, west), and Tm2 (left, north). You can see all the civilians. Also, at top center, another blind popped up an insurgent rifle and leader in the center building. You can't see it here, but off picture at bottom right is another insurgent team, guarding the suspected cache site.

Reverse angle, showing the other insurgent team (top center), the red chip denoting one of the suspected cache sites.

So, the leader and Tm1 move forward, trading fire with the insurgent team in the field, with Tm1 becoming pinned. But lo and behold, there's the weapons cache (rolled a 10 on a D10!). Tm2 (top left) has taken a hit in its exchange of fire with the insurgent team in the building.

Lappieux sends in the cavalry! The three Panhards go tearing down the highway towards the bridge. V1 halts to fire up one of the Technicals, fail, as does V2. V3 puts a round right close to the Technical on the right (RR), immobilizing and pinning it.

As they've found the cache, Lappieux wastes no timie getting at it, sending in H2 with Tm6 (and the explosives). H2 has a good set of rules, so gets there, sets down, debarks the troops, and gets back airborne. Tm6 (right, next to airborne helo) moves up and puts a hit on the insurgents in the field (off camera, bottom right). They moved up because they had to clear their field of fire around the civvie at bottom center. The insurgents in the building got a bit uppity and took a shot at H1 (still sitting on the deck), but missed.

The HMG Technical bounced some very large bullets off V1, to no effect, but V1 returned fire and sent them in search of virgins.

The RR Technical (top right) can't unpin, but an insurgent team showed up at the canal (top left) and hit S1, which saved (6 on a D6!). S3 dropped a bunch of 40 mike-mike rounds on them, but they shook it off like it was cool. MG and leader popped out of S2 and S3, respectively, and S1 and S2 fell back down the hill.

The Milan took a long shot at the insurgents in the building (the ones shooting at Tm2), and hit the building but not the insurgents (every time I missed I rolled to see if there were any civilian casualties).

Then the bad guys got their first set of reinforcements: 1 team at northeast (top right) hotspot, 2 at northwest (right next to Tm2), and 1 at the west hotspot (next to the canal on the left).

H2 got out of dodge, while H1 was only able to get airborne. Tm1 unpinned, and the insurgent team didn't, so Tm6 closed with them and put them some hurting on them. The newly arrived insurgent team in the west (foreground), decided to fire into the insurgent/Tm6 melee, pinning Tm6 and putting the insurgent team out of the fight. Tm6 rolled double 6s (I roll the other way, so if you're a BKC guy, think double 1s), so unpinned and put a hit on the insurgent team at the west canal.

Tm2 (top center) finds itself staring at two new insurgent teams on their hotspot (far left, black chip). They're able to put one hit on the first team, but the second wriggles it's way to their left, looking to get the drop on Tm1. Meanwhile, the insurgent douchebags in the building take another shot at H1 (still hanging around), getting two hits, but H1 rolled two saves (I really thought I was about to start playing "Blackhawk Down" when those two hits popped up).

The MG got in three rounds of firing on the insurgent team at the east canal, getting two hits, while S3 and its Mk19 get nothing in one round of firing then fail. V1 races over the bridge, pops Tm3 out (in the field at left), then puts a hit on the insurgents at the east canal.

V2 crosses the bridge, cuts left, gets to the top of the hill (next to west canal), and pops out Tm4 (top right, atop 'hill.' Bridge is to right). V2 and Tm4 light into the insurgent team at the west canal (bottom center), eliminating them. Tm4 then turns to their right and lights up into the insurgent team in the grove in the northeast corner, getting a hit.

V3 moves up to the bridge, then fails. The RR Technical (top center, whom I've been ignoring because they're beat up and pinned) unpins and fires on the MG team, pinning it. S3 and its M-19 fire on the RR Technical, but hit nothing... However, V3 snaps to and puts a 90mm round all up in their business. But then the insurgents at the east canal, barely hanging on, pop an RPG into V1, knocking out its main gun. V3 returns fire with its .50 cal, and Tm3 adds its firepower to this, eliminating the insurgent team at the east canal.

An insurgent team that came on on the northeast hotspot gets a couple good rolls and hauls butt around the north side (center left), but was a bit too ambitious and failed right as it got out in the open. Tm2 opened up, but to no effect.

The insurgents standing on the NW hotspot (top left) get three hits on Tm2 (top right), but it gets three saves! The insurgents in the building decide to cut H1 some slack and go after Tm2, but get no hits. The other insurgent team (center) unpins, but Tm4 (on hill with V2) pins them, then Tm1 (centeer) moves up and gets a kill, while Tm6 (with the explosives) moves to the weapons cache.

Enemy reinforcements roll in again, with 3 teams in the NE corner.

Tm6 begins rigging the cache to blow, and gets two actions, so it only needs one more (auto next turn). Tm1 continues close combat with the insurgent team in the grove, get two more hits on them, while Tm2 put another kill on the insurgent team still on the NW hotspot. Tm4 (on hill) puts two hits on the Insurgent team on the north side, while V2 (also on hill) pins the insurgents on the NW hotspot. The insurgents in the building fire on Tm2, to no effect, which in turn draws fire from the MG, Milan, and S3, getting two hits but not pinning them.

This is the NE corner, where three insurgent teams just came on as reinforcements. At bottom left are the insurgents "in the building," whilst the two above them are reinforcements. In the center, one of the reinforcement teams moved up and hit V3 (far right, with Tm5), damaging its engine.

Enemy reinforcements were only one team, on the NW hotspot.

The Milan, MG, and S3 got in two rounds of fire on the insurgents in the building (top center), but manage only one hit. V3 (bottom center) fires down the middle of the street, getting three rounds in, three hits. V1 (off camera at bottom right) fires its MG (main gun KO) down the street, hitting nothing, while Tm5 also shoots down the street, getting one hit. Return fire from the three insurgent teams pins both V3 and Tm5. Tm3 (off camera, bottom) also fires down the street, getting two hits and pinning one of the insurgent teams.

Lapieux, knowing Tm6 is almost finished rigging the cache for detonation, sends S1 and S2 over the bridge and to their left (S1 and 2 at center, V2 and Tm4 on hill at top left, V3 and Tm5 in foreground, Tm6 at top right with cache).

Tm1 (bottom left) eliminates the insurgent team it was in close combat with, while V2 (on hill, off camera to right) lights into insurgents at the NW hotspot, eliminating them in two rounds of firing, then miraculously getting another two rounds of firing (3 hits and pin) on the remaining NW hotspot insurgent team. Tm2 quickly finishes them off, swings back to the east (center left), and eliminates the north insurgent team. The insurgents in the building get a lucky shot on Tm2, pinning them. Tm6 finished rigging the explosives and moved next to Tm2. Tm5 (on hill with V2), starts its break on foot, and makes it all the way to the bridge.

The insurgents in the building fire at Tm2, missing, and Tm2 unpins while Tm1 and Tm6 fall back to south.
V2 moves down off hill to Tm2, while S1 and S2 move up to Tm1 and Tm6, making ready to get out of here.

The insurgents closest to V3 and Tm5 enters the building. The Milan, MG, and S3 try to help out but can't get a clear shot. V1 snap fires it's .50 cal and pins the insurgents. V3 and Tm5 both unpin and unleash fury down the street, getting a hit and pin.

Shot from behind Tm3 (bottom right) and V3/Tm5 (top left), lighting into the insurgent teams coming up the street.

Enemy reinforcements: 2 teams to the NW hotspot and 1 to the W hotspot, perfect for the bad guys. It would have really helped the FFL if these guys popped up on the NE hotspot, to far away to get anything done as the French are trying to leave town.

Starting off in the NW, Tm2 fires ineffectually at the 2 reinforcement teams that just arrived, then dashed into V2. V2 fires its main gun and pins one of the insurgent teams, then begins falling back. Tm1 and Tm6 load into S1 and S2 and they all start moving towards the bridge.

Milan, MG, and S3 go after the insurgents above V3/Tm5, getting two hits and pinning them. Tm4 fires down the street, eliminates one insurgent team, then loads into V3, who fires at the near building, getting a hit, then begins falling back (very slowly because of the damage). Tm3 (center) fires down street, eliminating the remaining insurgent team near the NE hotspot, then loads into V1 (bottom right, S1 is at left center).

The insurgent team at the west canal moves up, looking to get a line on the vehicles as they cross the bridge. Tm4 sees this and crosses bridge (to south) and moves into position to engage them (bridge is to right).

There's quite a kerfuffle as all the FFL vehicles continue hauling ass towards (and over) the bridge, and various insurgent elements continue to charge into the open and fire RPGs at the fleeing vehicles. There are a couple near misses, and particularly close call when the insurgent team on the rooftop unpins and fires at V3, pinning it; but V1's .50 cal. once again saved the day, pinning the insurgents until V3 could get its act together and get over the bridge. The MG and leader on the SE hill fall back on foot, while the Milan mounts S3, who launches a whole box of 40mm grenades before falling back.

Tm4 keeps the west canal insurgent team (top left) pinned while just about everyone gets off the map, but V3 is slow (damaged), and so there's a little drama as the insurgents try to unpin and get an RPG at V3, but it's able to make it off the table.

A crowd of insurgents begins inspecting their weapons cache, curious as to why the French left in such a hurry...

Oh, that's why! Sorry, it seems every time I play a modern game I have to use all my cotton balls to make a cheesy, gi-normous explosion.

That was a lot of fun, and, to tell you the truth, the dice were with me as that went a lot smoother than I thought it would/it should have. Finding the weapons cache right off the bat was a huge deal, as I likely would have gotten bogged down in heavy fighting in the village if that wasn't the case. And if you're fighting in the village, there are two hotspots behind you for insurgent reinforcements. Another big deal was that both Technicals popped up right away (first two units spotted); this actually worked to my favor, seeing them and then eliminating them rather quickly and painlessly. The bad guys also missed several RPG shots at my helicopters, particularly as H1 sat there on the deck for pretty much two turns.

Tactically, I liked my plan, stuck to it, and it worked pretty well. The only thing I wasn't happy with my handling of the withdrawal. I planned, and it should have been much more deliberate and orderly. Instead it turned into something of a mad dash to get off the table. If one of those enemy teams would have gotten a lucky shot in that disabled or destroyed a vehicle (during the withdrawal), things could have gotten really bad as the French HAD to extract everyone. That was another thing I got lucky with; while the FFL took casualties, no units were eliminated, so I never had to jump through the goat-rope of having to conduct a MEDEVAC under fire.

I threw those rules together in about 10 minutes before starting the game. Activation worked well, but needs to be refined a bit. I wasn't happy with the shooting; it made for very attritional fighting, as opposed to quick and dynamic. Again, this probably helped the French. Easier to lose FFL units that way, forcing MEDEVAC (and thus degrading combat power by the unit lost and the unit conducting MEDEVAC), plus, the faster insurgent teams were lost, the faster they would have been fed back in as reinforcements. I feel the shooting rules would work great at a higher echelon, but didn't feel right for individual teams.